Wide Eyed Productions Presents ANIMALS at FringeNYC, Now thru 8/23

Wide Eyed Productions presents ANIMALS by Sam Byron, directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann, as part of the FringeNYC Festival 2012 at The Kraine Theatre, 85 E. 4th Street.

Animals is a new play by emerging playwright Sam Byron. It follows a group of "twenty-somethings" kicking around their suburban hometown. Some of them got out after high school, some of them stayed, and some were held captive, but all have returned for an unofficial reunion. Amidst the flowing booze and the formally familiar faces from their past, three friends confront the unexpected violence that lives inside all of us.

Wide Eyed Productions caps its 5th Season with Animals, an edgy, funny and high-stakes offering to the 16th Annual New York City Fringe Festival, their fourth Fringe production in five seasons.

The show plays the following schedule: TUE 8/14 @ 7:00-8:30; THU 8/16 @ 4:15-5:45; SUN 8/19 @ 2:15-3:45; WED 8/22 @ 4:45-6:15; and THU 8/23 @ 7:00-8:30. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.fringenyc.org.

To get to the Kraine Theatre, take the 6 train to Bleecker Street station, walk east on Bleecker to The Bowery, then north to East 4th Street, then east to the theatre.

Visit the website at www.wideeyedproductions.com for more information and updates.

The CAST

Jeffrey Adams (Drew) Jeff received his BA in Theatre Arts at Santa Clara University and is currently working on his MFA at The New School for Drama. Recent attributes include: Women and Wallace (Box Colony), NSD's Venus in Fur (Thomas) and the many works of Sam Byron. Pear Avenue Theatre's Death of a Salesman (Happy), The 25th Annual...Spelling Bee (Chip), Twelfth Night (Feste), Playboy of the Western World (Christy), Erik Ehn's The Saint Plays (Genesius), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Jimmy), and the world premiere of Over the Mountain at Brava Theatre in San Francisco. Adams is so happy to be working with Wide Eyed and such a talented team on Animals, and is grateful for the opportunity and privilege of participating in this year's Fringe Festival.

JENNA D'ANGELO (Megan) Jenna could not be happier to continue her journey with the fantastic script Animals and to be a part of the FringeNYC Festival. Previous credits include: THEATRE: The Thrill of the Chase (Faith), As You Like It (Rosalind), Dracula (Lucy), California Suite (Diana), Savage in Limbo (Linda Rotunda). FILM: Madeleine Zabel (Madeleine) (www.maddyz.com), Silent Wave (NWOIFF Outstanding Actress in a Short Nomination), Dream Lover, Honeymoon's Over, Kin. For more, visit www.jennadangelo.com.

Sarah Jadin* (Lisa) New York theater: Edward, My Son, The Late George Apley, The Actor's Company Theatre; As You Like It, The Midtown Theater Festival. Regional theater: Alice. Vs. Wonderland, The Donkey Show, American Repertory Theatre. London theater: A Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, The Way of the World, The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. MFA Acting from The ART/MXAT Institute at Harvard University.

Sky Seals* (Royce) Sky is a co-founder of Wide Eyed Productions, with whom he has performed (A Girl Wrote It, Goldilocks & the Three Polar Bears, Henry VI part III, Jack & the Soy Beanstalk, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Medea), composed (Goldilocks & the Three Polar Bears, The Trojan Women, Jack & the Soy Beanstalk), production managed (Noah's Arkansas), and stage managed/AD/set designed (A Devil Inside). Sky performed in the long-running Off-Broadway musical Sessions at the Algonquin Theater. As the acoustic comedy duo "Neil and Sky", Sky has written the score for the web series White Liars, and rocked stages across the country.

Leif Steinert (Robby) This is Leif's first time collaborating with Wide Eyed Productions and he could not be more thrilled to be working among such a talented group of artists. He is a second year M.F.A. candidate at the New School for Drama. NY Credits include: Paris (7 Ways to Mourn the Dead reading at M.C.C.), Romeo (Romeo and Juliet at Webster Hall), Yakov (The Seagull), Soapy Smith (Gifts of the Magi) Mark (Discovery Hill's The Hard Lull). Film credits include: Banana's, Vivo's, Feast of Stephen and Life in a Box.

CREATIVE TEAM

SAM BYRON (Playwright) Plays include A Substitute for Margo (Out of the Ashes Theatre Co., Chicago, IL), The Rock and the Bird (NoBucks Theater, Ithaca, NY), Debt (Horse Trade Theater, New York City, and Dillingham Center for Performing Arts, Ithaca, NY), Brooklyn Vacancies (finalist, New Works Program at T. Schreiber Studio, New York City), Static (finalist, HotCity Theater's Greenhouse Festival, St. Louis), and Animals (Manhattan Repertory Theatre, New York City). He has written numerous short plays, including 529 (Playsmiths, Manhattan Theatre Source), Famous Dick (UglyRhino Productions), and How to Field Dress a Unicorn (Billy & Co.). He is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting from The New School for Drama where was the 2012 recipient of the New School for Drama's Steinberg New Playwrights Fellowship.

KRISTIN SKYE HOFFMANN (Director) Directing credits include S.V.P. by Sam Byron, Le Pond by Dan Kitrosser, The 'You Knows' Know by Derek Ahonen, The Accommodation by Paul Cohen, Venus in Fur by David Ives (NSD), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Jackson Rep), Plays for the Sunni Triangle and In Sheeps' Clothing by Jerrod Bogard. For Wide Eyed Productions: The Trojan Women, The Return of Toodles von Flooz by Lisa Ferber, My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer by BrIan Watkins, Being Late by Judith Goldsmit, Outstanding by Bekah Brunstetter, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Wasserman, Much Ado About Nothing and The Medea. Kristin holds a Bachelor's Degree in Performing Arts with a Major in Acting & Directing. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Wide Eyed Productions. She is currently a 2nd year Directing MFA Candidate at The New School for Drama. Kristin is a part-time acting coach and full-time artist and lover of life. For more info, visit www.wideeyedproductions.com.

KATE MURRAY (Casting Director) Kate's casting credits include (as Casting Director) the films, New York Ghosts (Independent Short, dir. Maria Gordillo), Living The Dream (Columbia MFA Thesis Film, dir. Gerry Kim), Candlesticks (NYU MFA Film, dir. by Bella Wing-Davey), Two Ladies And A Gentleman (NYU MFA Film, dir. by Brooke Goldfinch), Bumbloods (Webseries Pilot, dir. Joe Bandelli) and has contributed casting for CollegeHumor.com. Kate served as Casting Director for the 2011 BAFTA/Rocliffe New Writing Forum, hosted at the 92nd St. Y as a part of the New York Television Festival (dir. Susan Jacobson), as well as the 2012 Writopia Worldwide Festival's Play Reading Series (sponsored by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Productions). Kate is Casting Director for UglyRhino Productions, www.uglyrhinonyc.com) and her credits with the company include; Celebration, Rhinoceros, #NYC, Grief and The Awakening. She is currently the Senior Casting Assistant at The Public Theater/NYSF, and has assisted on mainstage productions as well as numerous workshops and readings. Previously, she was the Casting Assistant at Susan Shopmaker Casting, where she assisted on casting MTV's Skins, as well as helping cast over 200 children and young adults in Tino Seghal's solo exhibition at The Guggenheim Museum entitled This Progress (Feb. 2010).

TREVOR DALLIER (Sound Design) Trevor, resident sound designer of Wide Eyed Productions (WEP), thrilled to be participating in Fringe NYC again. Previous Fringe sound design credits: Poe Dunk: a Matchbox Entertainment (Also Frigid Festival/Playlab NYC), A World Elsewhere: Arias in the Key of Clown (WEP), The Velvet Gentleman (Playlab NYC) and The Fourth Estate. Additional sound design credits include: A Girl Wrote It, The Prairie Plays, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Noah's Arkansas, A Devil Inside, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Venus in Fur (NSD) and the "Vignettes for the Apocalypse" best short comedy winner, The 'You Knows' Know. You can also see his work as an actor and sound editor in the upcoming short film, Underneath (Stag Nation Productions). Special thanks to Freesound.Org.

CATE DIGIROLAMO (Set & Lighting Design) Cate is a graduate of RADA, and has worked for Gate Theatre Notting Hill, Royal Court Theatre, and The Almeida Theatre in London. She is currently Resident Lighting Designer/Production Manager for UglyRhino Productions. This is Cate's first time working with Wide Eyed.

Wide Eyed Productions is a New York City-based collective of artists dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in risk-taking, relevant theatre. Our core ensemble is committed to the birth of new works and also the rebirth of the classic texts. Through our collaborative process Wide Eyed discovers and creates theatre that both stimulates the imagination and awakens the public's passion for high standards in the performing arts.

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